Pls Chance a Desperate Rising Senior

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello!

I have one quick general question and would also greatly appreciate if someone could chance me. Any advice would be a great help!

I’m a rising senior interested in pursuing a career in STEM (I know this is broad but I’m currently torn between science and engineering). I come from a very low income area that has a reputation pretty close to being a ghetto, but we typically send two students to Harvard a year. It’s a weird trend I’ve seen every year I’ve been at the high school…there’s always one kid from our band who is also in the top ten that’s accepted, and some other kid that surprises people. I only knew one of these students last year (the band one), but their SAT was only about 1300. She was a great person with good extracurriculars, but nothing groundbreaking. We also had one student accepted to every ivy but one a few years ago with similar stats (good, but not out of this world). So, I’m curious… Does coming from a low income area increase admissions chances? Is there a reason this for this trend with Harvard admissions, or am I just some crazy conspiracy theorist? I’ve heard race can factor into admissions because colleges like to fill quotas, but while my city is extremely diverse (which I love), both students accepted last year were Caucasian females like me.

Additionally, since I too am interested in applying to very selective schools, I’d greatly appreciate if someone could assess my stats. My dreams schools are Stanford, Cornell, and Northwestern. I want to go to a school that’s very strong in STEM but also strong in other fields (I don’t want to live in a STEM bubble). If you have recommendations let me know! I know Harvard doesn’t have much in terms of engineering but I feel I should apply anyway because I do love the school and might pursue science or something else entirely. Not to mention, that trend I described earlier is kind of hard to ignore.

Anyway, here it goes…

Objective Stats:

SAT: 1540 (770 math, 770 ERW)
I didn’t get that good of a score on the essay (6/5/6), but I heard this wasn’t as important so I am planning to focus on taking the math 2 and physics sat 2 instead of retaking the SAT. Is this an alright plan? Technically I could retake the SAT in November or December, but I’d rather focus on the application essays, and don’t want to suffer more than I have to.

GPA: 4.0 (UW), 4.935 (W)

RANK: 1/974

AP Exams:
Freshman year: No AP allowed
Sophomore year: APUSH - 5 (only AP allowed)
Junior year: AP Euro - 5 (only AP allowed other than AP Lang)
Senior year: AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Calc BC

I’m also enrolled in IB English HL and IB chinese SL

Side note: My school does have the full IB diploma program, but I didn’t take it because our IB program doesn’t have course selection. I would have been forced to take IB art and IB history, which I hate. I would have taken 3 years of biology (least favorite science) rather than physics, Ap chem, and Ap environmental, and never would have taken as advanced math since our IB program only has math SL. It didn’t match my interests.

Subjective Stats:

Extracurriculars:
Science Club (president)
Foreign Language Honors Society (executive for Chinese)
Engineering Club
National Honors Society (treasurer)
Marching Band (flute line leader)
School Mentor (I give tours of the high school during orientation and tutor peer students weekly)

Volunteering:

Maker Space at my public library
(I help direct stem activities for middle school kids twice a week, like building robots or putting together circuits)

Maker Space at a local children’s museum
(This is similar to the library Maker Space but less advanced because the kids are much younger. Basically we have random recycled materials and I help kids to use the engineering process to create whatever they can imagine)

Summer 2017: I took an astrophysics course through summer@brown

Summer 2018: I got a paid internship at my local community college and will be conducting research five days a week

Awards:

Harvard Book Award
School Science Fair, 1st place
Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair, 3rd place

I was also awarded a $5000 grant to do research (I’ll be working on my own project during my time at the community college)

Other:

I run a candle business with my mom that we started back when I was in eighth grade. I help her make candles and sell them at craft fairs on some weekends.

Traveling is a large part of who I am. I’m by no means wealthy, but my mom works at the airport so I’ve been lucky enough to fly for free. I’ve visited 15 different countries and have made friends all over the world, and these experiences have greatly shaped me. I’m thinking of using these experiences for an admissions essay.

If you took the time to read all that, or even just skimmed it, thank you so much!! Thanks in advance for any feedback, I’d really appreciate it.

2

You have a very solid application. I’m not sure how you have a 4.935 when you only took 2 ap classes so far though. Your SAT is very good.

From what I’ve read, Volunteering hours are a waste of time and you should instead focus on your passion and developing your spike and what makes you competitive. The astrophysics course was good, as was the grand to do research.

I’d say you have a competitive chance considering your story about the previous applicants that got in only with a 1300 SAT.

3

You are a competitive applicant for anywhere you apply. Your volunteer hours are absolutely NOT a waste of time! Especially since they time in with your STEM interest. Apply to your reach schools and also have solid match and safety schools that excite you and that are affordable. Good luck!

4

Agree with @momofsenior1 about you being competitor anywhere, and about your volunteer hours being very worthwhile. That’s because they seem authentic to you and not something that you’re doing just to pad your resume. The kind of volunteer hours that I think aren’t helpful is volunteer tourism or scattered volunteering that doesn’t show any commitment or a common thread.

One thing that lept out at me is you are taking AP Chem and AP BC Calc Senior year. Please do yourself a favor and do all of your applications over the summer because those classes take a significant amount of time and you’ll be miserable if you try to cram everything in all at once. Senior year is a lot busier than you think it will be.

5

Just want to clarify that although you are competitive for everywhere, because of the admissions rate of the most competitive schools, these are reach schools for you and everyone else. So make sure you love your safety schools, and also apply to several schools that are ranked in the 50-125 range for your matches. And, run the Net Price Calculator for any school you are thinking of applying to, since you don’t want to get accepted and then not go because of money.

6

@ShawnKouser Thanks for the feedback! It’s because my school weights GPA like crazy…an A+ in honors is a 4.8, an A+ in AP/IB is a 5.3, and I got straight A+ freshman through junior year. Personally I think it’s overboard but I don’t really have a reason to complain. I think it’s probably to encourage students to sign up for advanced courses since we have an extremely low AP participation rate.

7

@melvin123 Thanks for the reassurance about my volunteering and the advice! I’m definitely aiming to finish applications this summer…I’ve heard a fair share of horror stories from AP Calc/AP Chem students already! I’m still deciding on safety schools but I know how important they are. Thanks for the advice about using a Net Price Calculator as well.

8

You sound like a really strong applicant!! Since you love STEM but aren’t fixed on a particular engineering specialty and have both the “maker” and the “renaissance person” aspects going on (and also since you’re open to schools in California), I would encourage you to look at Harvey Mudd College. It’s a very rigorous STEM school but provides a strong liberal arts foundation as well, particularly since it’s part of the Claremont Consortium with four other top-tier liberal arts colleges, with exceptional freedom to cross-register. (So you get all the benefits of a “STEM bubble” without actually being stuck in one.) It’s a full-need-met school just like your other “dream schools,” and one of the very best engineering schools in terms of gender equity, both demographically and culture-wise. You strike me as the kind of person who might find a great fit there.

You might also check out Case Western Reserve and U of Rochester, both well-rounded schools with strong engineering and good financial aid, but slightly less “reachy” than your top schools. If you like Northwestern, then USC might also be worth a look. Also Rice and Vanderbilt.

Yes, definitely run the NPC for all the schools you consider and see where you stand aid-wise. I’m sure you will have great choices come next spring!

9

Your reaches can be “reaches for everyone” so the trick will be showing interest at your matches and safeties. A match will be any school that admits 25-35% applicants and a safety would be your flagship’s honors college and some colleges with admit rates in the 40-50% range.
Run the NPC on all to make sure they meet your need (preferably without loans).

10

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools